


Beautiful

by AquarellButterfly



Series: so near and yet so far [2]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, Doomed Relationship, F/M, Realization, a pinch of fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-27
Updated: 2019-10-27
Packaged: 2021-01-04 18:17:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21201995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AquarellButterfly/pseuds/AquarellButterfly
Summary: The thought frightened him, but he couldn't deny it.





	Beautiful

**Author's Note:**

> This story is presented to you by:  
Marinette's Hair (my inspiration)  
haha, that sounds kind of funny.  
I've decided to turn my One Shots into some kind of series. If there was a timeline (and I'm not sure if there is one), this story would play somewhere before "I Love You".  
Like last time, I would like to point out that English is not my mother tongue. Anyway, I'm looking forward to your kuddos and comments.  
I hope you'll like the story.  
Enjoy ^^

He stared at her and couldn't move. It was as if an invisible force was holding him in place and at the same time laying a filter over his world, blurring everything except the spot where his eyes were fixed. They had suffered another failure, he had failed to get the Miraculous of his enemies into his possession. Although the defeat hurt him, his thoughts were quickly interrupted. The noise next to him had let him turn around. A cough, then the sound of toppling. Nathalie's retransformed, weakened body laid on the floor and he had wanted to help her, but this power had held him back, forced him to his knees.  
Gabriel wanted to help her, but all he could do was stare at her. The fall had made the left lens of her glasses crack. Her bun had come loose and her hair fell on her shoulders like a stormy dark sea, with a single ship on fire. It seemed to sail towards the strand that fell in her face. He had already noticed this strand on her first encounter and he had always looked at it slightly disparagingly, like a flaw in Nathalie's otherwise perfect and clean appearance. But now that stubborn strand seemed to complete the framing of her face.  
She looked beautiful. 

The thought frightened him, but he couldn't deny it. At that moment when she was lying there, weak and vulnerable, it was impossible for him to turn his gaze away from her. While his eyes seemed to lose themselves in her image, his thoughts began to wander. In his imagination he was at an event, not as an image on a screen, but in person. He wore his suit, stood with a champagne glass among all these people. He saw his son talking to a girl, he recognized her from the design contest. It was the baker's daughter that had taken care of the catering. Adrien seemed happy and frolicsome while he talked and laughed with her. He didn't need his father and Gabriel would have preferred to pack him up and take him back to his villa. With each passing second, he felt more uncomfortable.  
And then there she was. Her hair was also open in his imagination, falling over her shoulders in gentle waves. She wasn't wearing her usual turtleneck sweater, had no pad in her hand. Instead, her body was wrapped in a long blue dress, which gave him free visibility to her gentle body curves. She had put on make-up and even if it was only a bit, it seemed to be just right for her. She shone from top to bottom and she approached him with a smile on her lips. He had never seen her smile like that before, but immediately felt the intense desire to do everything for the opposite. Then this Dream Nathalie took his hand and another heat wave flowed through him. Let him feel safe. Arrived.

Her cough brought Gabriel back to reality. Without thinking about it, he moved closer to her, grabbed her and pulled her up so far that she sat at eye level with him. He wrapped one arm around her waist to support her, while starting to stroke her hair with the other hand. Finally he took this one strand between thumb and index finger and gently put it aside to have a clear view of her face. All the color had disappeared from it, but her blue eyes seemed to shine more intensely. They were dilated, staring directly into his own.  
Suddenly Gabriel was overwhelmed by a wave of fear that made him intensify his grip. What if those eyes were to elude him forever? If she wouldn't look at him, wouldn't talk to him anymore? Not related to his work, but to the little remarks that lay between the lines and consciously or unconsciously released something personal? The more he thought about it, the stronger the pain in his chest became. What if all that they did would result in Nathalie falling asleep, falling into a state, neither dead nor alive, like his wife Emilie?  
Emilie....

"Gabriel...?"  
Her trembling voice finally brought him back to reality. Only now he seemed to realize how close he was to her, how tightly he held her trembling body. She had to be extremely exhausted:  
"You must rest".  
Without any further ado he lifted her up and began to carry her out of his hideout. Little by little he pressed her gently against him, as if fearing she could dissolve under his hands. Leaving the secret room he felt the piercing look of the painting in his back. Did it condemn him for his previous thoughts? His feet did not lead him to the upholstery on which she had lain the last time, but one floor higher. For a moment, he thought of carrying her into his room, laying her in his bed. It was soft and big enough. But then he took the path that led to the small room that Nathalie was allowed to call her own. Maybe he should give her a new, bigger room as soon as she got better. There were enough empty rooms in this house, and even if she would resist, Gabriel would simply insist.

He gently laid the delicate woman on the bed, making sure that the blanket protected her entire body from the coldness. Her face turned towards him, he was relieved to notice that her cheeks were already soft red again. Her blue eyes, however, looked sad at him:  
"I'm sorry, Gabriel. I'm just a burden to you, instead of helping".  
He shook his head, took off her glasses, a soft smile on his lips:  
"I'll get a replacement right away. You are not a burden to me, Nathalie. Without you I wouldn't be able to do all of this. But now you must rest to regain your strength."  
Nathalie looked at him, but said nothing more. And suddenly there it was, the smile. Weaker than what Gabriel had seen in his imagination and yet it was the smile he had found so incredibly enchanting. He wanted to say something, anything, but Nathalie had already closed her eyes. From her deep breaths Gabriel could tell that she had fallen asleep.

He walked to the door. Something inside him wanted to leave this room as soon as possible and never return. But the other, stronger part made him turn around and look at the sleeping woman. That part also made sure that he closed the door quietly and got to her bed again. Carefully he sat down on the edge before looking at her face. Again the thought stabbed him in his heart. He didn't want to think it, but she laid there, completely exhausted because of him, at the same time full of ambition to support him in his plan and so beautiful. It suddenly became clear to him that he would never be able to think otherwise of her, even if she would put her hair back up the following day, an apologetic look in her eyes, as one strand wouldn't comply.

Carefully not to awaken her, he took one of her hands and placed it between his. She felt warm and left a warm feeling in his aching chest. It was dangerous for him and yet the knowledge could not be denied. He had to find some way to get to the Miraculous of Ladybug and Chat Noir. Not only for him, not only to see his son happy again. Not only to free his wife Emilie from an eternal coma, but also to save this beautiful woman named Nathalie, to save her from this fate before it was too late.


End file.
